NPP Communicator Awal Mohammed Blames Mandela for South Africa Xenophobia, Defends Sunyani East Protest

NPP Communication Member Awal Mohammed has weighed in on recent xenophobic tensions in South Africa and domestic political developments, delivering pointed remarks on both.

In a debate on Kessben Maakye show, Mohammed argued that hostility toward foreign nationals in South Africa is a long-standing issue. _“The Xenophobic attacks being peddled by South Africans are not new,”_ he said, adding, most of these South Africans are lazy.

He claimed systemic exclusion persists in parts of the country, adding that there are places in S.A that if you are a black person you cannot enter.

Mohammed traced the root of current tensions to post-independence policy. _“Mandela is the source of all these happening because after gaining independence he did not take all the state assets from the whites, so all the big investment are for the whites,”_ he stated.

If South Africa doesn’t orient her citizens, they will keep doing it, he warned.

Speaking on domestic politics, Mohammed addressed the NPP’s recent demonstration in Sunyani East. _“We demonstrated in Sunyani because we are not afraid of threats (Yensuro Ahunahuna),”_ he said.

He defended press freedom while urging professional restraint. Mohammed noted.

There are some statement I wouldn’t make as a communicator or trained journalist. It would then destroy my reputation and I won’t do such, but that doesn’t warrant the government to arrest people for publications, he insisted.

On legal redress, he argued, If someone slanders you, you must sue him and not arrest him.

He criticized recent arrests under the current government saying ,_“About 10 people have so far been arrested under this government. but none of them have been prosecuted because they don’t have any legal grounds,”_ he claimed. What Baba Amanfo did does not warrant arrest, he added.

Neither the South African High Commission in Accra nor the Ghana Police Service has yet responded to Mohammed’s comments.